Been to Hell
by CaptainTyphlosion
Summary: Cpl. Tess Miller suffers a wound that completely alters her self-image. General Shepherd calls her to Afghanistan; but life is hard here and being followed by whispers and stares starts to take its toll. Can Cpl. Dunn help her see that her scar is not the weakness she thinks it is? [Rated T for language and violence in later chapters].
1. Hell and Back

**Author's Note:** Okay; this is the first I've uploaded in a long, long time. I'm a little rusty, this is probably awful, but meh. I'll go back and rewrite later because I'm honestly not entirely happy with it. I need to start somewhere though.

Also- I'm looking for REVIEWS on this. Please let me know if this is interesting at all; otherwise I'm not going to keep going. I'm threatening you all MUAHAHAHA. Also, Corporal Dunn doesn't get enough love so blah. I also realise it's not the longest chapter in the world, but I'm slowly getting back into this thing! I'm also relatively new to CoD, so if you can correct me at any point, please, _please_ do so. It will be greatly appreciated.

Any and all mistakes are unintentional; enjoy!

* * *

One; Hell and Back

_Bullets are flying everywhere; comrades are falling all around her. Dillon is screaming, agonised shouts and sobs and, for the love of _God_, she can't see him. She shoots, she reloads, she aims, she shoots again, she moves position, and she passes another fallen friend. The heat is smouldering and unbearable and she's sweating so much that her gun is close to slipping from her hands._

_She moves without thinking anymore; her thoughts focussed entirely on her friend, on the man who helped her through everything, her commanding officer – _where is he? _– and is so shocked when a bullet grazes her arm that she can barely manage to scream. She looks up, sees dark hair and hears pained shouting, hears someone shouting at her to move, to _get away, _and she looks up-_

* * *

It's stifling hot when she exits the truck, dark hair pulled back from her face as she surveys her surroundings.

Groups of people linger all over the hot desert base, cleaning weapons, laughing and joking and playing games and over by the edge of the base is a group of Privates training with their weapons. Tess recognises Sergeant Foley, standing before them all and looking more frustrated than anything else but as she grabs her bag from the truck, her mind is focussed entirely on something else.

She can hear Foley from halfway across the base, yelling orders to a Private Allen, but she has eyes only for the entrance to The Pit, where she can see the man who brought her here. General Shepherd is talking to two people but he's noticed her and is waving her over. Tess's bag is now slung over her shoulder, a comforting weight that brings her mind off the eyes following her, _staring_ at her and helping her to ignore the whispers. She dodges a basketball and ignores apologies.

"Corporal," greets Shepherd genially, turning to face her as she approaches. She doesn't miss the way his eyes linger on her face.

"General," she returns with a smile. Her eyes dart over the two soldiers standing on either side of him, "I'm not interrupting, am I?"

"Not at all," answers Shepherd. "Welcome to Afghanistan."

"Can't say I'm happy to be here," replies Tess shortly. "I was told I was being discharged after leaving the hospital."

"Well, I called in a favour."

Tess forces a small smile, unable to do or say much else. Being the only survivor of a mission gone wrong and winding up in the hospital for four months tends to exhaust a person, especially when they were now so permanently scarred mentally and physically that it was difficult to tell if things would ever be the same again. Shepherd dismisses the two soldiers and gestures for Tess to walk down into The Pit with him and his eyes are kept resolutely forward the whole time.

Shepherd looks like a tired man, his face aged and drawn and his hair greying; she knows he's seen his fair share of war and he is a good General, even if he is harder than any other she'd met. Tess doesn't know where they are walking nor does she particularly care, still too pissed off that she isn't going home.

"No disrespect, sir," she starts, a touch irritated, "but you better have a good reason for getting me out here."

Phoenix is a strange place for her to be, Tess will admit, and she's never really been one to questions orders, especially when they come from as high a place as General Shepherd, but this is the last place Tess _wants _to be. There's someone leaning against a table at the start of the course but Tess doesn't really pay that much attention to him, still waiting for Shepherd to answer her question.

He doesn't.

"Corporal Dunn," greets Shepherd and the man looks up. He glances at Tess for a second and he doesn't react to her the way she expects. It's a welcome reprieve from the stares.

"Nice scar," he says casually, like he's seen worse. Tess stares back at him, stone-faced, and says nothing in return.

"This is Corporal Teresa Miller," introduces Shepherd and Tess is somewhat grateful that she didn't have to introduce herself. She shakes hands with Dunn and nods. She's pleased to note that she's roughly the same height as him.

"Don't say much, do ya?" he jokes and Tess's lips tilt upwards.

"Nothing to say," she answers.

"I'll leave you to it," Shepherd interrupts and before Tess can ask what he means, he's walking away.

Tess watches him go, gritting her teeth and shaking her head, and turns back to look at Dunn. He's watching her with interest and she notices that he's not afraid to look at her. She shrugs and walks to the table, picking up the Desert Eagle and the AK-47, making sure to strap a knife onto her belt too. When she glances up, Dunn is checking his own Desert Eagle.

"Any idea why I'm here?" she asks him conversationally and his eyes snap to hers instantly. Obviously he didn't expect her to speak. She raises her eyebrows at him and waits for him to gather himself.

"Not a clue," he answers eventually and with a shrug. "Although I heard General Shepherd wants to pull a shooter from our unit for some special op. Maybe you're here to fill in?"

"Maybe," she replies bitterly.

And doesn't that make her feel worse. After everything she's been through, she's here just to _fill in_ for some little shit that gets to go off on a _special op_ and be a hero. Tess tries not to let it get to her as she prepares to run the course but it's always there in the back of her mind, bugging at her. Maybe, if she'd come out of that op without the bloody scar on her face…

"You okay?" Dunn asks. Tess realises she's been clenching and unclenching her fist and saying nothing for about a minute now.

"I'm fine," she snaps. "Let's get this bloody thing over with."

"Okay then," replies Dunn and if he found her behaviour odd, he doesn't say so. He opens the gate and steps aside, saying, "Timer starts as soon as the first target pops. Good luck."

* * *

She clears the course in 25.4 seconds.

"Impressive," says Dunn when she finishes. Tess huffs and puts the weapons back where she found them, unwilling to speak about the course and too pissed to trust herself not to whine constantly about it if she does.

"Could have been better," she mutters instead.

"Still, I doubt Shepherd wants you for the prima-donna squad."

"Is that a compliment?"

"No-" splutters Dunn, "Yes- What?"

Tess smirks and walks past him, lifting her hand in a goodbye gesture but not turning to look at him. She's had enough of him for one day, she's had enough of _people_ for one day, but it's far from over. She sighs, long and drawn, and tries not to groan when Shepherd comes to meet her.

"Impressive, Corporal," he says, "I knew I had a good feeling about you."

"Not that good if it means I'm stuck here instead of going on your _special op_," Tess snaps before she can think. She looks at him, an apology on her lips, but Shepherd just shrugs.

"It's not an op I can send you on," he tells her seriously. Tess sighs and shakes her head.

"You still haven't told me why I'm here, sir."

Shepherd looks at her, long and hard, and nods. Tess folds her arms across her chest, dark hair falling off her shoulder as she looks up at him and waits. She needs an answer from him; she needs to know that coming out here is _worth it_ and not just some way to keep her mind off all the shit that's happened in her life lately.

"I called you out here because I don't think you're done," he says sharply. He doesn't sound angry but there's definitely an edge to his voice. "If you think that you're done because your face is _scarred_, if you think that's enough to discharge you, then feel free to leave right now. I won't stop you."

"Then why bother taking me all the way out here, sir?"

"Why don't you figure out the answer to that? You're a smart girl; you got out of Iraq on your own, you finished that mission on your own, I'm sure you can figure out why I brought you here."

He heads back to oversee the Privates running the Pit before Tess can say anything else. She's more than a little pissed off now, angry that Shepherd didn't just give a straight answer, and furious that he doesn't consider her good enough for a special op or even the _prima-donna _squad, as Dunn had so elegantly put it. She storms back down to the Pit, startling a Private just on his way in, and too consumed by rage to want anything other than a _distraction_.

"Running again, Corporal?" asks Dunn casually when he sees her coming down to the Pit again.

"No," she snaps and she winces at how harsh she sounds. She sighs and, feeling like she has to provide as excuse, says, "Sorry. I'm having a shit day."

"Let's hope that we have a Private who screws up big time," says Dunn in a quiet voice. "That'll cheer you up."

Tess huffs a laugh and remains quiet as Dunn greets the Private that entered behind Tess. She watches them interact in silence and stares the Private down when he looks over at her, smirking to herself when the poor soul struggles to refill the ammo in the Desert Eagle. The Private starts the course and Dunn leans against the table beside her.

"That was mean," he says but he's smiling. Tess shrugs.

"He shouldn't have been staring," she says.

The Private doesn't do terribly but he doesn't do well either. It's the Private that runs after him that Dunn and Tess are both impressed with – begrudgingly, on Tess's part. She doesn't doubt that Shepherd will want this one for his _special op_. She pulls the tie out of her hair and runs her hands through the short, uneven lengths, retying it again as the Private – First Class Joseph Allen, she learns as she picks up a weapon - comes to a stop beside Dunn.

"Good job, Private," says Dunn and Allen nods. He doesn't seem arrogant in the slightest, like some people Tess has met in her time, and Tess actually finds herself hoping she'll get to work with him more. He reminds her of Dillon.

Dunn adds, "That's the fastest I've seen in a while. Except for the 141 guys."

"_Prima-Donna_ squad?" asks Tess sceptically. At Dunn's nod, she says, immaturely, she'll admit, though she can't quite bring herself to care, "What the hell kind of a name is that?"

Allen looks at her and opens his mouth as if to say something else, but there are shouts from above; in particular she hears Sergeant Arnett, ordering people to move, that 'they' have blown the main bridge. Allen takes off up the stairs and Dunn starts to move. He picks up a SCAR-H and turns to Tess, holding it out to her.

"You coming?"

Shepherd's words echo through her head: … _if you think that's enough to discharge you, then feel free to leave right now. I won't stop you._ She doesn't want to be here. She doesn't want to join the _Rangers_ when she knows for a fact that she's good enough for the _Task Force._ Why should she go with them when she's _better than them_? Why should she give Shepherd the satisfaction of knowing that she's not going to leave? Why should she have to put up with the stares and the whispers that will undoubtedly follow her wherever she goes?

_Because it's what I love to do_, she realises sullenly.

Tess knows there's a thrill in being in an active warzone; a rush in defending comrades and shooting down threats. You get the job done and there's no bigger accomplishment than that. A scar is nothing compared to the rush of war.

"_Everyone get in the vehicles, we're moving out_!"

She takes the gun from Dunn without a word and follows him to the trucks.


	2. Shake the Ground

**Author's Note:** Eeeeep; this is really rushed, not at all as good as I imagined it would be but meehh! (I tried, therefore, no one should criticise me!)

I've tried my best with this mission- it's the first mission and I've been reliably informed that the first mission is always hard to write because it's the first one so *fingers crossed* it'll get better, hopefully. Obviously, there's a gap between this and the next mission - three days, I believe, between the missions, so we'll get a bit of Rangers interaction, some more insight into Tess- lots to come :D!

Try and enjoy it even if it's terrible:)!

Any and all mistakes are unintentional and should be ignored.  
Thank you so, so, so much to my reviewers (all 2 of you guys- seriously, made my day so thank you very very much!)

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Two; Shake the Ground

_Everything happens so fast._

_One second, Dillon is telling a really bad joke and Tess is laughing at him, eyes tearing up and feeling a pleasant tightening in her stomach when she just can't stop, and the next second they're being shot at and she's diving for cover. Dillon is beside her, shouting orders to the rest of their team and Tess is watching his six, shooting down anyone getting far too close. They're coming from all sides in a blaze of gunfire and smoke and for the life of her, Tess can't figure out where they came from._

_They're buried under and Tess can hear Adam – the poor Private who'd joined their unit not even a month before – shout that they have a man down, that Corporal Fisher is _down_ and he can't hold the enemy off on his own._

"_Get over there, Private!" barks Dillon and Tess scrambles to obey, sprinting to Adam._

_Fisher is bleeding too fast and there's so much and the enemy just keep coming-_

* * *

In the heat of war, in the middle of a gun fight, Tess feels an adrenaline high – exhilaration at being a part of the Rangers. Dunn's words before they exited the truck echo in her ears: _Rangers lead the way, Corporal! Ready for a gunfight? _

Is she ever.

"Miller," Foley barks and Tess has dropped to a kneel, aiming down her sight and taking out whoever she can. "Contact at your ten o'clock!" She follows his direction, pops the target, and moves onto the next one. Allen comes to a stop beside her, supporting her and-

Okay, where the hell did he get an M2O3?

She covers him but watches with apt attention as he clears the other side of the river, picking off his seconds and begrudgingly admitting that this guy is _good_. Allen shoots her a grin as he reloads.

"Hunter 2!" roars Foley, and where the hell is this guy? Tess seems to be able to hear him no matter where he bloody well is! "Keep up the pressure on those RPG teams! If that bridgelayer gets hit, we're swimming, hooah?"

Tess can hear someone behind her – she thinks it's Dunn but she can't look back, not now – calling for an air strike, ordering them to level the white building and she tries to concentrate her aim there, not quite sure what it will do but desperate to help Dunn in some way. He's nice and she wants to help him however and whenever she can.

"On the bridge; ten o'clock high!" Foley shouts suddenly and both Tess and Private Allen adjust their aim. "Multiple targets – take them out!"

Tess and Allen manage to take out quite a few of the enemy up there, with help from their comrades already up on the bridge. Dunn has come to Tess's other side, face hard and focussed as he aims.

"Up on the bridge," he says to Tess quickly, momentarily looking at her, "far side!"

Tess nods and shoots quickly, grim faced but elated, smirking to herself as the targets fall. Dunn helps and his lips have tilted upwards into a smirk that matches her own.

"Having fun?" he asks casually, his smirk turning into a grin.

"Oh yeah," answers Tess, brows furrowing as she reloads. "This is _exactly_ how I imagined my day going."

"They're retreating – keep hitting 'em!"

Foley is right; the enemy soldiers are scrambling to escape, fleeing the scene as fast as their legs can carry them, and Tess is chasing them off as much as she can with bullets. As she reloads, relishing in the momentary reprieve and getting to her feet, Dunn and Allen converse idly about some program on TV that Tess has never even heard of.

"Hunter 2!" barks Foley and her eyes fall on the Sergeant standing a few feet away. "Bridge complete! We're Oscar Mike – move out!"

"We're movin' out!" repeats Dunn as he walks past her, his shoulder brushing hers. Tess helps Allen to his feet and ignores his thank you, instead muttering, "Let's go already."

"Let's go, let's go!" shouts Sergeant Arnett - she recognises him but only just – and she moves quickly to the bridge, adjusting her grip on her weapon.

Allen jogs ahead of her and she follows him as he follows Dunn, clambering up the stairs and into the truck as quickly as she possibly can. Allen takes control of the mini-gun and Tess is definitely grateful for that; she's never been good with those things and more often than not she causes more harm than good. Dunn has taken the passenger side and as he slams his door shut, "Ten seconds" echoes throughout the Rangers.

"Hey; isn't this danger close for the Task Force?" asks the driver quietly. Tess is suddenly quite interested in what the driver has to say, frowning when Dunn scoffs.

"C'mon," he says, huffing a laugh, "since when does Shepherd care about danger close?"

"What-"

Tess is cut off by an explosion – the air strike has hit the building and completely levelled it – and the Rangers are cheering, some, she notices, have videoed the whole thing on their phones. She rolls her eyes; a building blew up, _big deal_. Dunn is laughing too, cheering and clapping as the convoy of vehicles starts to move.

"Alright, we're Oscar Mike," says Dunn and even though Tess can't see his face, she knows he's still smiling.

Tess keeps a tight grip on her gun, eyes trained on the buildings outside as they enter the city – it looks abandoned, but you can never be too careful – and listens carefully to Foley's voice through the comms. The cheers have stopped and the unit is now exactly that; ready to be engaged at any minute and fully prepared for the worst.

"All Hunter 2 victors," Foley says, "keep an eye out for civvies – we're not cleared to engage unless they fire first."

"Hear that Allen?" asks Dunn cheekily. "Watch those trigger happy fingers."

"Scan the rooftops for hostiles," is the next thing Foley says, cutting off whatever response Allen had. "Stay frosty."

The convoy moves deeper into the city and Tess lifts her gun and aims out into the street – she's anxious and can't see anything anymore. They've passed the levelled building and there's dust and sand everywhere, obscuring their vision.

"You see anything?" asks the driver.

"Not a damn thing," hisses Tess.

"I got nothin', dude," says Dunn. "This place is dead."

"How the hell are we supposed to scan for hostiles if we can't see a bloody thing?" snaps Tess, eyes narrowed as she stares into the dusty haze.

"It'll clear," Nasir says to her left, calmly.

"Overlord," says Foley's voice in her ear, "Hunter 2-1. We're passing tunnel Harvey, cross street Elizabeth."

And then Overlord, calm and far away; "Roger that, Hunter 2-1, proceed with caution."

When Dunn speaks again, it isn't with the fondness and cheekiness from before; his voice has an edge to it and an almost undetectable worry. He hefts his gun up a little.

"Alright, stay frosty you guys," he mutters, "this is the Wild West."

"Understatement," mutters Tess.

"Roger that," says the driver.

The place is deserted, with only a few civilians here and there – women with children stuck outside before the convoy entered; men stranded in alleys. Tess doesn't like the look of any of them and she doesn't like the feeling twisting in her gut, like they could be attacked at any second now.

"Watch those alleys," warns Dunn quietly.

"Bloody civilians," Tess murmurs, watching a boy sprint out of one with narrowed eyes.

"Hold your fire," Dunn hisses at her. "We're not cleared to-"

"I _know_," Tess snaps at him. "I'm just worried that one of them is going to get hurt if they don't watch themselves. _Jesus_."

"Three foot mobiles," says a voice in her ear at that moment, cutting off Dunn's response. "Balcony, twelve o'clock – probable militia."

"Are they armed?" is Foley's immediate response but Tess can't see what or who they're talking about.

"Negative. They're just watching us."

"I bet they're scouting us," says Dunn conversationally – Tess wonders if he's trying to light the mood.

"We can't shoot them though," she says, leaning forward.

There's a few seconds of silence and a single shot is fired. Tess lifts her gun and aims out the window but she can't see anything. Everyone seems to be in the same boat. Nasir is aiming out the opposite window.

"See anything Corporal?" he asks her, looking over his shoulder at her.

"Not a damn thing," she responds.

"I don't see Jack!" shouts Dunn just as Foley's voice reaches them over the comms again.

"All Hunter victors, this is Sergeant Foley; prepare to engage, we're taking sniper fire from multiple directions."

Well, _shit_.

"Prepare to engage," orders Dunn loudly. "We're goin' in!"

Allen fires on the hostiles as soon as they turn the corner and Tess can't help but feel sorry that it's not her behind that thing. Although she's not comfortable using them, sure that she'd probably cause a lot more harm than good if it was her behind it, god _damn_, it's _fun_ to use. Allen is stern-faced and determined when she glances up at him, taking out hostiles left, right and centre and doing a damn good job at it but it doesn't seem to help.

"There's too many of them!" yells Dunn and he sounds worried now. "Back up, _back up_!"

Amongst the chaos that's erupted they manage to get out of there, only to run into even more trouble as the convoy moves further though the streets. The militia has surfaced once more, coming out of every window and door and balcony and shooting at anything that moves and damn it – she's in the wrong place! She can't get a clear shot, no matter what she does!

Foley says something else but Tess doesn't hear it, trying to adjust her position in her seat, trying to find a way to _shoot something_-

"_Damn it_, we're cut off!" yells Dunn suddenly but the truck keeps going – "_Push through_!" shouts Foley in her ear – and there are even more bullets raining down around them now and Allen's shouting out about a wound on his arm and in her ear is a warning about an RPG on a rooftop-

Tess dazedly looks around her – why is she outside? What happened? – and sees Allen a few feet ahead, bleeding from a cut on his forehead but dragging himself to his feet and she endeavours to do the same.

"_On your feet, Corporal!_" shouts Dunn, right beside her. He hooks a hand around her arm and drags her into a nearby building; it's empty and safe – _for now_.

"Is everyone alright?" asks Foley.

"Hooah," says one of the Rangers – the driver of their truck. Tess hopes she'll find out his name before all this is done – she has yet to spot Nasir; did he even make it out?

"They're movin' around upstairs!" says Dunn, straight to the point.

"Get the hell away from those windows and secure the top floor," barks Foley. "_Move, move_!"

"_Damn it_," Tess mutters, then, louder and to Dunn right beside her, "I don't have a weapon. I must've lost it in the chaos. _Damn it_."

"Here."

He hands her his Desert Eagle, with instructions to pick up a different weapon when she gets the chance and not to forget to bring her own pistol next time because only an idiot forgets something like that.

"Ha ha," she deadpans, but she accepts the criticism because she knows he's right. "Although," she tells him, "it could be said that it's your fault I forgot. You handed me the SCAR-H in the first place."

"The guns were right behind you," Dunn points out with raised eyebrows.

"_Ugh_- Shut up."

Dunn grins and salutes her playfully before following Foley and Private McCoy upstairs. Tess follows behind, pauses to wonder when Allen has gone before hearing him ahead of their small group. He's thrown a flashbang ahead of them before running in guns blazing. Tess envies him for that.

It's over quickly and bodies are littering the floor. Tess swipes a gun from one of the dead, an AK-47, and quickly steals ammo as well. From their position, they have a clear view of a school, but Tess keeps a mindful distance from the window while taking down any of the militia she can.

"Okay, what now?" she asks. It's only then that Tess realises she doesn't actually know what they're doing there – Dunn handed her a weapon and she followed him blindly into a warzone.

"Hunter 2-1 to Hunter 2-3, I have eyes on the school, over!" says Foley into his comm.

"2-1, we are combat ineffective here!"

"_Shit_," mutters Allen. He picks up an AK-47 from the floor and stands beside Tess, shooting at the school.

"We are taking heavy fire from the school; can you assist, over?"

"Squad on me, let's go!" shouts Foley. "Keep it together 2-3! We're on our way, out!"

Tess shoots her way into the school behind Foley and Dunn, taking a moment to revel in the fact that she's ahead of Allen, and ducking behind some debris for cover when they enter the building itself. Across the hall and a little ahead of her, Dunn dips behind a fallen cabinet.

"Whoa, watch it!" he shouts over the gunfire. "Some of 'em just went in that classroom on the right!"

"I'm on it!" Tess shouts and she sprints into the classroom.

Allen shadows her into the classroom while Foley and Dunn continue through the corridor; Tess finds herself becoming more and more desperate to prove herself. Allen – the Private who impressed both Dunn and herself and no doubt General Shepherd as well – is doing all he can do to prove himself too. The thought pisses her off – she's been through so much more than him, _done_ so much more than him!

Fuelled by anger, Tess shoots out of the classroom ahead of Allen and ahead of Foley and Dunn. She sprints up the stairs and shoots all hostiles on sight without a second thought, reloading as quickly as she can. After taking out two hostiles at the top of the stairs, she takes a short cut through another classroom, unaware that Dunn is behind her until he speaks.

"Yeah, I'm cutting through history class now!" he says with a laugh. Tess shoots him an unimpressed look over her shoulder.

"Very funny," she mutters.

"Hunter 2-1, this is Hunter 2-3," says a voice in her ear, "thanks for the assist! We're leaving on Hunter 3's Humvee, over!"

"Roger that," she hears Foley say and wow, doesn't he sound pissed.

It doesn't take them long to clear through the rest of the building and eventually they're running out into the street behind the school. Foley and Dunn exit after her, followed closely by Private Allen.

"Hunter 2-1 Actual to Overlord," says Foley.

"Hunter 2-1 Actual, this is Overlord, send traffic," is the immediate response.

Foley continues, "The school is secure and hostiles are withdrawing from the area. We're just moppin' up now."

"Solid copy Hunter 2-1 Actual; proceed with caution to the rally point. EPW's may still be in the area, over."

"Roger that, Overlord, thanks for the tip. Out."

Tess reloads her weapon while this conversation takes place and she's glad she's finished when Foley turns on her. His eyes are hard and his lips are drawn into a thin, hard line. He stares at her, less than impressed. Tess waits for him to speak, waits for him to scold her on her actions in the school, waits for him to tear her to shreds.

Instead, he says, "Watch for any stragglers. Let's get to that rally point."

* * *

The most surprising thing about the rally point is who's waiting for them there: _General Shepherd_.

He steps forward to meet them but his eyes are focussed on Private Allen and no one else.

"Gentlemen," he says, "good work on taking the town! Private Allen, you'll be taking orders from me from now on. I'll brief you on the chopper – let's go."

And just like Private Allen takes his leave. Tess watches him go, scoffing under her breath and staring determinedly at the ground while keeping a firm grip on her weapon.

"Typical," she mutters to Dunn when he approaches.

"Didn't say goodbye?" asks Dunn, watching as Shepherd and Allen climb into the chopper.

"Didn't even stop walking."

"Imagine that."

"_Corporal Miller_!"

Dunn takes his leave – _sneaky bastard_, Tess thinks – and she turns to meet Sergeant Foley, walking towards her with purpose. She gives him her full attention but doesn't smile. She has a funny feeling she already knows what this is about. She holds her head high and although she finds his fast approach daunting, she tries not to let it show on her face.

"Sergeant," she greets when he's close.

"What the _hell_ was that back there?" he demands furiously, staring at her with narrowed eyes.

"Sir?" she responds, trying to feign innocent.

"Don't play stupid," he snaps immediately. "You know what you did; I don't tolerate one-man armies, Corporal!"

"You seemed okay with it when Private Allen was-"

"Enough, Corporal, I don't want to hear it!"

"Sorry, sir."

Tess falls silent, resolutely determined not to say anything else that might drop her in it, but Foley isn't done yet. He towers over her, intimidating her beyond belief, but he seems to have calmed somewhat. She steps back, as if only just realising how he is to her, and Tess looks anywhere but at him. She catches Dunn's eye; he's standing by the truck, watching their interaction with a blank face.

"Corporal, if you're going to join this team, you need to be a team player," Foley says, drawing her eyes back to him. "I can't have anything but that."

"I understand, sir," Tess grinds out.

"Good."

He storms away, leaving Tess standing there, surrounded by men she doesn't know, still holding her gun and realising that it was silly of her to ever think joining this team was a good idea.


End file.
